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LAHORE, July 12: Carelessness and a lack of interest on part of the authorities appear to be the main reason behind accommodating trainees at an insecure private place and exposing them to dangers like a terrorist attack on Thursday.

A source said Prof Tariq appeared to be the `first casualty’ in the senior cadre as the intelligence agencies had suspected that three senior doctors including heads of two medical colleges had patronised the 20-day strike at public sector health facilities of the province.

“Transfer of the PGMI head has alerted the other senior doctors provoking their junior colleagues against the Punjab government,” the source said quoting a senior government official.

The source claimed that more transfers were expected during the next few weeks.

He said the Punjab government had assigned targets to some intelligence agencies to find out ‘people’ behind the doctors’ agitation. The reports had suspected role of a former and two serving principals of the medical institutions.

The Punjab government had also received similar complaints from some parliamentarians and certain quarters which endorsed the reports of the intelligence agencies.

The source said during a high level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif at CM’s Secretariat on July 7 on the strike issue, the matter of involvement of three
senior doctors also came under discussion. The meeting had named three professors as `anti-Punjab government’ doctors.

Some 100 doctors were actively participating in the strike and hurling threats at their other colleagues, the meeting was informed.

The CM had criticised the bureaucracy in the meeting for its utter failure in resolving the strike issue.

The decision of recruitment of new doctors was also taken up in the same meeting to avoid such protests in the future, the source said.

Besides Prof Tariq, the government also transferred some other senior doctors and posted them as heads of medical institutions.

According to the notification issued on Thursday, LGH neurosurgery department (unit-I) head Prof Dr Anjum Habib Vohra has been transferred and posted as PGMI/LGH principal vice Prof Tariq Salahuddin who will work as professor of neurology at the same institution.

Prof Dr Maaz Ahmad of King Edward Medical University has been transferred and posted as Institute of Public Health dean. Prof Dr Nausheen of Jinnah Hospital has been transferred and posted as Khwaja Safdar Medical College, Sialkot, principal.—Asif Chaudhry